The amount of steel piping used to transport oil & gas worldwide is enormous. And because a defect can cause huge environmental and safety hazards the responsible authorities give strict guidelines for the preparation of the steel pipes before coating.

One of the guidelines is the determination of the amount of soluble salts on the pipe surface. ISO 8502-9 is used as the official standard to which the Soluble Salt Meter demonstrated equivalence during testing by CCC&L performed March 4 through September 24, 2009 in accordance with NACE SP0508-2008.

Given the circumstances pipes are measured (many miles of repetitive actions), an electronic tool such as the Soluble Salt Meter saves time and money, with improving accuracy and data capture as a bonus. On pipes with a diameter of no less than 48 inch the standard version of the SSM can be used.

For smaller diameters three optional curved measuring heads are available to measure in three ranges pipes from 8 inch up to up to 42 inch.

The IMO (International Maritime Organization) recently adopted new performance standards for protective coatings (PSPC) of dedicated sea water ballast tanks in all types of ships and double-side skin spaces of bulk carriers. The regulation will apply to ships of not less than 500 gross tonnage.

The aim of the new rules is to provide a coating life of at least 15 years in good condition according to the IACS (International Association of Classification Societies). It will form part of the SOLAS regulations and is as such intended to reduce the risk of shipping disasters where failure is due to corrosion in the ballast tanks. The coating standard requirements will be recorded in a document called the Coating Technical File which will be a permanent and updated record kept on-board the vessel for the whole of its life.

This new standard has a major influence on all parties in ship building, including ship owners, shipyards and paint manufacturers. Because the number of salt measurements will increase significantly and have to be documented carefully it is evident that the use of the Soluble Salt Meter is an absolute must in this process.

Owners of large steel constructions such as bridges, wind turbines and vessels for petrochemical plants recognize the direct relation between salt concentration on the surface before painting and the life time of the protective coating.

That is why not only the maximum allowable surface salt concentration before painting is specified, but also the way how the measurements are taken, stored and presented.

The Soluble Salt Meter is the best possible solution for salt measurements. The cheapest, fastest and most accurate method.